Boycott Creative Cloud?

[Mike Wickham]

If you haven't heard, CS6 is the last CS version. From now on, you have to rent your applications via the Creative Cloud. I don't like the new subscription model. I have bought every CS upgrade since version 1, but it looks like CS6 is the end for me, even if it means keeping an old computer around just to run CS6 applications.

Perhaps Adobe would change its mind in a few months if most everyone avoided signing up for the subscription. In any case, they've created a real opportunity for competitors.

[rkelly0137]

Conditional actions...

[Chuck Uebele]

If they had conditional actions back when I started Photoshop, I might have never learned scripting! I would have so loved that!! For those not doing scripting, that's a great feature!

[Ed.Macke]

I guess it all depends upon your work flow. If you're a designer, there are tons of great new features.

And that's clearly the benefit of the subscription model - continuous new features, bug fixes, not to mention keeping up with new OS's like Windows 10. Those are things that make a lot of sense to a lot of people.

But the problem is that for other people, like me, it doesn't make sense.

What's infuriating is that Adobe has decided a monthly software fee makes sense for them and couldn't care less whether it makes sense to me. That kind of arrogant take-it-or-leave-it stance is very disappointing for those of us who love Adobe products but have to choose the "leave it" option. I had to scrimp my pennies to afford the academic-price CS6 suite, I simply don't have $600/yr for software fees.

[Mike Wickham]

But we also had new features, bug fixes, and compatibility with new OS's

with the old upgrade model, too. Subscriptions added none of that.

[rcraighead]

I understand that. I am the same. I got sucked in by the $29 introductory price. When it jumped to $50 I could not justify it. I also found the bugs (in AI) to outway the new features. There are still "bugs" in AI CS6 that I identified and were never fixed (and will never BE fixed). Adobe would rather concentrate on the latest versions.

All this being said, Adobe stock is up 81% this year. They are not ABOUT to change anything now.

[lhwohl]

Actually, I've been using Photoshop since Version 3. And whatever I'm missing hasn't hurt my business at all. I haven't come to a point where I can't create what I visualize, and I'm pretty fast. At his point, I'm not willing to cave — I have the same problem as others with the idea that I couldn't fully access my files should something go wrong with my subscription. And yes, I get that there's some kind of backward compatibility with CS6, but what about all of those fabulous features I'm missing out on? How do you reconcile that incompatibility?

Also, I'm often on-site at a location with only a limited Wifi connection due to some crazy government firewall issues — not Mac-friendly, shall we say. There I can't have any kind of subscription where I need to connect and pay. Doesn't work for everyone. But honestly, even if there was a way around that, I wouldn't make the jump until I had to. Adobe should give us the choice.

[Ed.Macke]

I'll never understand why people come to a company web site and leave messages about how terrible the company is in a User-To-User forum where is does absolutely no good.

Because if a company is smart, they will at least monitor forums to pick up on trends: what works, what doesn't, how are things being perceived, where are people having issues with the product, etc.

I think people are hoping that's the case.

I have seen Adobe employees chime in from time to time on other forums, so perhaps there is at least some level of corporate interest?

[Ed.Macke]

Here's what I don't get... Both the subscription and purchase models have some compelling arguments in their favor so why doesn't Adobe simply offer both? You have happy customers all around, and you get to market yourself as a flexible company giving customers a choice. They're doing it with Lightroom 6 / CC, why not the rest of CC?

Clearly the subscription model is working for Adobe, and that's great. But why alienate your loyal customers who, for whatever reason, don't like the subscription model?

[Mike Wickham]

I agree. I own every version of CS. I always upgraded. I imagine that

most who refuse the subscription model, like me, would continue to spend

money on upgrades. We are willing to buy new features. We are just not

willing to rent them. If you ever stop paying with CC, for any reason,

your software turns off-- not just the cool latest features, but ALL of

them. No Photoshop for you! At least those of us with CS6 still have

access to probably 99.8% of everything that Photoshop CC can do.

It has now been two years since Adobe discontinued upgrades to Creative

Suite. When I look at how I have saved $1200 by not agreeing to

subscribe to Creative Cloud just to rent a few new features (most of

which I wouldn't even use), I think Adobe probably did me a big favor.

[rcraighead]

You make some very valid points, Mike. I was VERY frustrated when paying for CC and finding myself a "BETA" tester instead and going back to CS5 to do my work.

My biggest concern is, at some point current operating systems will no longer run CS5 or CS6. I am already running an old OS just to stay compatible with CS5. This limits my options with other software I'd like to upgrade. The writing is on the wall.

[UtahRugbyGuy]

I 100% Agree a BOYCOTT is in order.

I have been an Adobe user since waaaaaay before Apple and Adobe were cool. Around 1990 is when I started as a graphic designer. I have given them so much of my hard earned money and in return, they have helped me make a living for my family. Part of being a freelance designer is that we have to work for every penny we make and sometimes there are many projects and sometimes there are months between while we hunt for new clients. I have had to rely on waiting until I get a nice project before I could shell out the money to upgrade to the next version of CS but I have managed and it hasn't always been easy. With a monthly subscription, if I am having a couple slow months, then what? I just get locked out of my app and the ability to work for a couple months? And if I'm locked out and can't pay my monthly fees, then how will I be able to finish a new project to pay for them to be reinstated? It's like they're creating a major problem for designers to be able to pay for their tools. If they don't reverse this majorly idiotic decision, I will definitely be making the switch to a competitor and the new dollars from me and other defectors will give the competition the funds it needs to make apps that equal or maybe even surpass Adobe products and [inappropriate content removed by moderator]

[Terri_Stevens]

Although I appreciate many of the points you have made are true, there is more chance of Donald Trump being voted in as the next President of Mexico than Adobe dropping the subscription model. Why ? Because it is enormously successive and attracts people who would not entertain  the prospect of paying $1000 to buy Photoshop outright or $7000 for the whole of the creative suite plus $2000 every 12 months for upgrades.

Creative Cloud simply makes the software affordable for jobbing designers. Over 7 million subscriptions have been taken out now. I don't know the division between individual applications and the entire suite , but for sure the Photographic plan must account for many of those millions. If we say the average is $30 per month then that's $210 million /month in revenue and $2.52 billion per annum. Why in the world would they shrink their user base by once again offering high priced perpetual licenses when income of that size is on offer.

[Steven L. Gotz]

Why in the world would they shrink their user base by once again offering high priced perpetual licenses when income of that size is on offer.

Terry,

I signed up for the Creative Cloud when it was first made available because I had never bought any Adobe software since the first Premiere Pro. I was a beta tester up until CS3 so I got it for free, and then I dropped out of the program during CS4 due to an illness. Quite a few years later, I came back to video editing and added photography. So CC made sense to me since I was used to having the Master Collection and did not want to put out a large sum (over $2500) and then have to justify upgrades as a part time pro and an almost full time hobbyist.

That said, I can certainly come up with a reason for them to supply an exit strategy. I have supported such a strategy since the beginning. Yes, I am an Adobe Fanboy, but I completely understand people's fears about winding down their need for the software and wanting to use it only occasionally. But $50 per month (and a lot more in many other countries) can be burdensome for a part time user. Or, worse yet, a user who has changed to another program and sometimes needs to go back into old projects to satisfy customer needs.

Yes, it is possible to sign up for a month. But owning the software and locking down a computer with an OS and keeping it off of the Internet is a perfectly sensible desire for many people.

If Adobe made it possible to buy a certain release, let's say the current version of CC, right now, at some high, but relatively reasonable price, and gave a discount proportional to the amount of years that the customer had been paying the subscription, then people who otherwise might have dropped out completely, might be willing to add money to Adobe's bottom line one last time.

Take me for example. I am retired. I am getting older. I might, at some point lose the ability to hold a camera. Does that mean that I have to pay $10/month from the bed in my nursing home just to see my Lightroom catalog?

I can reduce the price of my auto insurance by telling the insurance company that I drive my car less than 100 miles per month. That way, an old pickup truck, that sits in the garage most of the time, is still covered when I need it for something.

Adobe could set something up that limited users to a certain amount of hours per month, with carryover, like your minutes in some Smartphone plans. And if you go over, you can then buy more hours. It would only apply to users who have paid for enough months to qualify as "good customers". Or maybe even "loyal customers".

I honestly believe that this type of thing could keep a few users around to help fill Adobe's treasury.  It is not for constant users, but it could be an exit strategy, a retirement plan of sorts. Not only would it be fair, but it could likely be profitable.

[aprilr68763931]

Plain and simple......Adobe lost sight of its loyal customers. I, too, have been using Adobe Creative Suite for years. I still have it on an older computer, but was intending to add it to my new laptop. Now that they have switched to a subscription app, it is a no go for me. I don't use Adobe for hobby purposes. It would seem that they would have considered their loyal customers before asking them to pay for a subscription that requires them to pay 2X, 5X or 10X the price of a boxed copy over the life of their subscription. Sad! I am not buying it, and I will encourage my colleagues to avoid purchasing it as well. There are many other alternatives that are more affordable. They could have even increased the price of the boxed copy as an alternative.

[Terri_Stevens]

Sorry your dissatisfied April, but time moves on in the evolution of every product and there is a market for the features you don't appear to need. Do you blame Microsoft and Apple for changing their operating systems as they are equally responsible for legacy Adobe products beginning to be unsupported on new computers. Your costings for the subscription model are way out you know. You say the subscription requires you to pay 2X, 5X and 10X the price of a boxed copy over the life of a subscription. If we totally discount the cost of upgrades to shrink rapped products and consider retail price only with Photoshop

2X =$2000 based on CS6 the last non subscription version available  You could pay subscriptions for 17 years before costing you that much. 5X is equivalent to 42 years of subscription and 10x is 83 years of subscription. I know of no business where there is zero investment in the tools of the trade, which appears to be what you are asking for. The reality is Adobe is a commercial entity and if they don't replace old products with new ones to generate revenue they will go out of business. Subscription generates a steady income and allows products formerly costing thousands to buy to be bought by the masses for $20 a month. It works I'm afraid can 10 million subscribers all be wrong?

[Abambo]

The subscription model seams to be a tremendous success as all the big players apply it. It is, however, not a new one. I have managed software on subscription basis for years now. And your anti-virus software uses probably also a subscription model.

The Creative Cloud is a mix between service and software tools in constant evolution. I for my part waited going to Creative Cloud several years for different reasons. The main reason was that I wanted new software running on new computers. I've made a quick calculation and found that my payments would not increase but the flexibility would tremendously. We had different 4 licenses of CS5, one was the Master Edition, one was Design Standard, two were Design Premium, one was Master. This was quite inflexible, as we needed to schedule the computers according to the tasks, well mainly for video editing.

Now with Creative Cloud, we just have the software on the computer, when needed. In addition, we have access to the type kit and we have Cloud Space, to share work outside of our organisation (we have other tools available, so we do not use this currently, but smaller companies may use this feature extensively...).

In addition, because of the low subscription costs, we were able to add 2 more licenses for people outside of our small Computer Graphics group, being more productive as a whole.I would not like to miss it again.

I'm sure that there are alternatives. I'm a long-time Corel Draw user and I still prefer the drawing style to Illustrator. I was a long-time Corel Ventura user. I was happy with the software, but I looked into alternatives when it got retired. Fortunately I had the chance to acquire the very first Indesign. Features where sparse against Ventura, but it was OK for what I needed.

There are sure alternatives. There are programs in CC that I even haven't started. But it is a tremendous value for the cash. I would recommend every professional the subscription.

If, however, you have a CS6 version of the software, you will still have a lot of fun with it, except if your OS does no more allow you to run those programs. Continue using that one... The only problem I see here, are bugs that would make you vulnerable against cyber-attacks.

Have fun aprilr68763931​, whatever tool you use!

[Nexahs1138]

aprilr68763931  wrote

Plain and simple......Adobe lost sight of its loyal customers. I, too, have been using Adobe Creative Suite for years. I still have it on an older computer, but was intending to add it to my new laptop. Now that they have switched to a subscription app, it is a no go for me. I don't use Adobe for hobby purposes. It would seem that they would have considered their loyal customers before asking them to pay for a subscription that requires them to pay 2X, 5X or 10X the price of a boxed copy over the life of their subscription. Sad! I am not buying it, and I will encourage my colleagues to avoid purchasing it as well. There are many other alternatives that are more affordable. They could have even increased the price of the boxed copy as an alternative.

There are many alternatives to Adobe.... none of which will get you a job though as companies use Adobe products, not gimp or TV paint.

The reason for the switch to CC is very obvious, and if you can't figure that out then you can't call yourself a loyal customer can you

[Terri_Stevens]

I wonder when loyal former customers, for that's what they are, start to become a pain in the derriere because they don't bring in any money   Five years of full technical support and updates seems fair to me.

Your quite right knowing Adobe products is the equivalent in terms of getting a job to having a degree and holding a high school diploma. It's not fair, but it's what is expected as an employer has to retrain the applicants. There are some really great alternative design programs Affinity Photo, Xara Designer Pro, Paintshop Pro and you can create great work with them, but they are just Adobe clones lacking the advanced features and costing less just to cash in on a market that regards Adobe overpriced.